| persons.
(A) Exception for law, regulation, or legal process.
A utility may release proprietary customer information to another
entity without customer authorization where authorized or requested
to do so by the commission or where required to do so by law, regulation,
or legal process.
(B) Exception for release to governmental entity. A
utility may release proprietary customer information without customer
authorization to a federal, state, or local governmental entity or
in connection with a court or administrative proceeding involving
the customer or the utility; provided, however, that the utility shall
take all reasonable actions to protect the confidentiality of such
information, including, but not limited to, providing such information
under a confidentiality agreement or protective order, and shall also
promptly notify the affected customer in writing that such information
has been requested.
(C) Exception to facilitate transition to customer
choice. In order to facilitate the transition to customer choice,
a utility may release proprietary customer information to its affiliated
retail electric provider or providers of last resort without authorization
of those customers only during a period prescribed by the commission.
(D) Exception for release to providers of last resort.
On or after January 1, 2002, a utility may provide proprietary customer
information to a provider of last resort without customer authorization
for the purpose of serving customers who have been switched to the
provider of last resort.
(E) Exception for release to State of Texas' Division
of Emergency Management. Beginning January 1, 2011, a utility may
provide proprietary customer information to the State of Texas' Division
of Emergency Management, upon that agency's request for purposes of
identifying the customer as a critical care residential customer pursuant
to §25.497 of this title (relating to Critical Load Industrial
Customers, Critical Load Public Safety Customers, Critical Care Residential
Customers, and Chronic Condition Residential Customers).
(2) Nondiscriminatory availability of aggregate customer
information. A utility may aggregate non-proprietary customer information,
including, but not limited to, information about a utility's energy
purchases, sales, or operations or about a utility's energy-related
goods or services. However, except in circumstances solely involving
the provision of corporate support services in accordance with subsection
(e)(2)(A) of this section, a utility shall aggregate non-proprietary
customer information for a competitive affiliate only if the utility
makes such aggregation service available to all non-affiliates under
the same terms and conditions and at the same price as it is made
available to any of its affiliates. In addition, no later than 24
hours prior to a utility's provision to its competitive affiliate
of aggregate customer information, the utility shall post a conspicuous
notice on its Internet site or other public electronic bulletin board
for at least 30 consecutive calendar days, providing the following
information: the name of the competitive affiliate to which the information
will be provided, the rate charged for the information, a meaningful
description of the information provided, and the procedures by which
non-affiliates may obtain the same information under the same terms
and conditions. The utility shall maintain records of such information
for a minimum of three years, and shall make such records available
for third party review within 72 hours of a written request, or at
a time mutually agreeable to the utility and the third party.
(3) No preferential access to transmission and distribution
information. A utility shall not allow preferential access by its
competitive affiliates to information about its transmission and distribution
systems.
(4) Other limitations on information disclosure. Nothing
in this rule is intended to alter the specific limitations on disclosure
of confidential information in the Texas Utilities Code, the Texas
Government Code, Chapter 552, or the commission's substantive and
procedural rules.
(5) Other information. Except as otherwise allowed
in this subsection, a utility shall not share information, except
for information required to perform allowed corporate support services,
with competitive affiliates unless the utility can prove to the commission
that the sharing will not compromise the public interest prior to
any such sharing. Information that is publicly available, or that
is unrelated in any way to utility activities, may be shared.
(h) Safeguards relating to joint marketing and advertising.
(1) Joint marketing, advertising, and promotional activities.
(A) A utility shall not:
(i) provide or acquire leads on behalf of its competitive
affiliates;
(ii) solicit business or acquire information on behalf
of any of its competitive affiliates;
(iii) give the appearance of speaking or acting on
behalf of any of its competitive affiliates;
(iv) share market analysis reports or other proprietary
or non-publicly available reports, with its competitive affiliates;
(v) represent to customers or potential customers that
it can offer competitive retail services bundled with its tariffed
services; or
(vi) request authorization from its customers to pass
on information exclusively to its competitive affiliate.
(B) A utility shall not engage in joint marketing,
advertising, or promotional activities of its products or services
with those of a competitive affiliate in a manner that favors the
affiliate. Such joint marketing, advertising, or promotional activities
include, but are not limited to, the following activities:
(i) acting or appearing to act on behalf of a competitive
affiliate in any communications and contacts with any existing or
potential customers;
(ii) joint sales calls;
(iii) joint proposals, either as requests for proposals
or responses to requests for proposals:
(iv) joint promotional communications or correspondence,
except that a utility may allow a competitive affiliate access to
customer bill advertising inserts according to the terms of a commission-approved
tariff so long as access to such inserts is made available on the
same terms and conditions to non-affiliates offering similar services
as the competitive affiliate that uses bill inserts;
(v) joint presentation at trade shows, conferences,
or other marketing events within the State of Texas; and
(vi) providing links between any of a utility's websites
and social media platforms, and any of the websites and social media
platforms of its competitive affiliates.
(C) At a customer's unsolicited request, a utility
may participate in meetings with a competitive affiliate to discuss
technical or operational subjects regarding the utility's provision
of transmission or distribution services to the customer, but only
in the same manner and to the same extent the utility participates
in such meetings with unaffiliated electric or energy services suppliers
and their customers. The utility shall not listen to, view, or otherwise
participate in any way in a sales discussion between a customer and
a competitive affiliate or an unaffiliated electric or energy services
supplier.
(2) Requests for specific competitive affiliate information.
If a customer or potential customer makes an unsolicited request to
a utility for information specifically about any of its competitive
affiliates, the utility may refer the customer or potential customer
to the competitive affiliate for more information. Under this paragraph,
the only information that a utility may provide to the customer or
potential customer is the competitive affiliate's address and telephone
number. The utility shall not transfer the customer directly to the
competitive affiliate's customer service office via telephone or provide
any other electronic link whereby the customer could contact the competitive
affiliate through the utility. When providing the customer or potential
customer information about the competitive affiliate, the utility
shall not promote its competitive affiliate's products or services,
nor shall it offer the customer or potential customer any opinion
regarding the service of the competitive affiliate or any other service
provider.
(3) Requests for general information about products
or services offered by competitive affiliates and their competitors.
If a customer or potential customer request general information from
a utility about products or services provided by its competitive affiliate
or its affiliate's competitors, the utility shall not promote its
competitive affiliate or its affiliate's products or services, nor
shall the utility offer the customer or potential customer any opinion
regarding the service of the competitive affiliate or any other service
provider. The utility may direct the customer or potential customer
to a telephone directory or to the commission, or provide the customer
with a recent list of suppliers developed and maintained by the commission,
but the utility may not refer the customer or Cont'd... |
